TV News: Chuck Gets a Third Season with Tighter Budget
NBC has officially annouced that the hip spy “dramedy,” Chuck, is getting a renewal for a third season. After averaging sub par ratings on a tough Monday night Chuck has been pretty resilient remaining one of very few shows to last through a sophomore season post Writer’s Strike when getting its series premiere during the Writer’s Strike.
Averaging a 2.8 rating/7 share in the adults 18-49 demographic and 7.3 million viewers during its sophomore season on Monday Nights, the show had a hard time grasping higher ratings from the demo competing against How I Met your Mother and Big Bang Theory on CBS as well as other heavyweights including House on Fox and Gossip Girl on The CW.
NBC debated its fate over its advertiser’s conference ultimately deciding the show was worth a third season but that it would see fewer episodes and a smaller budget. The third season of Chuck is now getting 13 episodes and some cost cutting said to be part of the renewal haggling between NBC and Warner Bros. TV over the past few weeks.
When NBC revealed their renewals weeks ago they mentioned that Chuck was part of a larger conversation involving Warner Brothers TV and Southland. I guess that was the bulk.
Now what does cost cutting’s mean for Chuck? Well the way I look at it is that the supporting cast will be dialed down a lot, locations will be scaled back and possibly even the action will be scaled down.
Could this mean the end of the Buy More portion of Chuck? I could see that and judging by the way the show ended last season straying away from that wouldn’t totally be out of context. I love Lester and Jeff as well as Morgan and the rest of the Buy More miscreants but evolution in story is the key for the show to continue and anyone who saw that season finale knows what I mean when they evolved Chuck.
Glad it is coming back though and kudos to NBC and the WB for taking their time to handle the property right. I do not see a fourth season in Chuck’s future as of the moment, thinking that NBC will likely push this upcoming season to a dead night like Fridays or Sundays.
